TOP STORY
Michael Peca Suspended 5 Games
NHL.com Story - http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=387186
If there’s one thing that transcends all sports, it’s that you don’t mess with the refs or umpires. There’s no quicker way for an athlete to get in a world of trouble than by touching a referee or demeaning him or her in front of the arena. Michael Peca did a little bit of both.
This is a little out of character for a guy who has the ‘A’ on his sweater and has been known as a team leader throughout his career. Emotions can get the better of players from time to time, but you have to keep yourself in check. Maybe you’d expect something like this out of a Sean Avery or someone like that, but when you’re an alternate captain on a team full of young players, you need to set the example.
I’m sure the suspension isn’t as bad as what Ken Hitchcock will have in store for him. Peca was lucky that the appeal worked and the penalty was downgraded from a Category II to a Category III. The difference there is that he went from a 10-game minimum suspension to a 3-game minimum.
RUMOR MILL
More Mats Sundin Buzz
-The teams in play for Sundin really haven’t changed much. It’s still Montreal, the Rangers, Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, Philly and Colorado. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m getting sick of the midseason returns of players/inability to decide whether to retire or not (when it’s not due to an injury obviously). This is a trend Roger Clemens started and Brett Favre added his own twist to. If you want to play, play. If you want to retire, retire. The only difference with a guy like Sundin is that he’s a warrior and a fan favorite. While I’ll always root for a guy like Sundin and he deserves his name on the Cup, he needs to be more decisive about his future. Captains don’t become captains by being wishy-washy.
Mike Comrie on the move?
Because the Blackhawks haven’t been in the news enough this week, they are the rumored partner for an Islanders deal on Comrie. No word yet on who the Isles would get back. Wouldn’t it be funny if Khabibulin was somehow part of this deal with DiPietro signed for 15 years with hip problems? The biggest loss to the Isles here would be Hillary Duff’s presence at Nassau Coliseum (for those who don’t know, Duff and Comrie are a couple).
LAST NIGHT’S RECAP
Ottawa Senators over the Phoenix Coyotes 6-3
-The big story here is Daniel Alfredsson’s return to the lineup. Alfie joined the team again after only being out 1 week from having a bone chip removed from his right knee. He assisted on 2 of the 3 first period goals for the Sens.
NY Rangers over the Toronto Maple Leafs 1-0 (SO)
-A penalty filled game that was dominated between the pipes by both Vesa Toskala and Stephen Valiquette. Valley earned his 3rd career shutout and is quickly proving himself a valuable backup on Broadway (and also a Flyer-killer and a Leafs-killer). Toskala turned in more than his share of quality saves for the Leafs.
Columbus Blue Jackets over the Nashville Predators 5-3
-Rick Nash pots 2 for Columbus (1 on the PP) as Columbus holds on after nearly blowing a 4-0 lead in their home opener. The victory ends a 16 game streak in which the Blue Jackets failed to get a point against the Preds (0-15-1).
Buffalo Sabres over the Vancouver Canucks 5-2
-This one was over early as the Sabres jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period. Thomas Vanek scored his NHL leading sixth goal and added two assists in the win for the undefeated Sabres.
Edmonton Oilers over the Calgary Flames 4-3
-Special teams were the difference in this edition of the Battle of Alberta. Edmonton notched 3 PP goals in the 2nd period (Erik Cole, Lubomir Visnovsky and Robert Nillson) to go to 3-0-0. Rookie goalie Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers turned away 26 of 29 shots for his first career victory.
San Jose Sharks vs. Anaheim Ducks
-The Ducks got their first win of the year, but it took a 38 save shut-out performance from Jean-Sebastian Giguere to do it. In the process, the Sharks take their first loss of the year. San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov allowed all four goals in the first 20 shots after giving up four total goals in his first three starts. Defenseman Dan Boyle was a -3.
LA Kings defeat Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in OT
-Michal Handzus scored the first goal of the game and he scored the most important one in the game. The OT goal was created by a nice defensive play by Handzus in his own end and ended with him choosing to shoot instead of passing to Alexander Frolov on an OT 2 on 1. A very exciting game to watch.
AROUND THE BOARDS
-Blue Jackets goalie Pascal Leclaire stopped a hard shot with the palm side of his blocker in the 3rd period against Nashville. He left the ice in pain while holding out his bare right hand. The club said there was no damage except for a bruised thumb. He will sit out the Saturday night game against Nashville and Frederik Norrena will start in his place.
-Defenseman Matt Greene has signed a five-year extension with the Los Angeles Kings through the 2013-14 season. The deal comes almost a week after the Kings signed center Anze Kopitar to a seven-year extension through 2015-16. The 25-year-old Greene is in his first season with the Kings after spending three years with Edmonton and was named one of the Kings' assistant captains earlier this month.
-Phoenix Coyotes' LW Daniel Carcillo has been suspended for two games, without pay. At 17:00 of the second period on Wednesday night, Carcillo, who was on the players' bench, became involved with Blackhawks' player Ben Eager, who was on the ice. Carcillo missed tonight's game at Ottawa and will be out of the lineup for Saturday’s game against Montreal.
-The Vancouver Canucks have placed center Kyle Wellwood on waivers
-St. Louis Blues G Chris Mason underwent emergency appendectomy surgery
-Team Canada has named former Red Wing Steve Yzerman as Executive Director for the 2010 Olympic team. It would have been really tough for Canada to do better than Stevie Y.
GAME OF THE NIGHT
NY Rangers @ Detroit Red Wings - 7PM
-Anytime Original 6 team's get a chance to meet, there's always a little mystique behind it. The team with the most points in the NHL travels to Jou Louis Arena to play the defending champions. This will be the Rangers first test against a really tough team this year (Buffalo beat them on Wednesday, but the Rangers played extremely sloppy in that game). Historically, the Rangers struggle with Detroit. The Blueshirts are coming off a 1-0 shootout win on Friday night against the Maple Leafs. On the other bench, the Red Wings are coming off a tough OT loss against the Canucks in which Detroit turned over the puck 13 times. If you like good ol' fashioned hockey, this should serve your fix.
Other Action:
Colorado @ Dallas - 2PM
Phoenix @ Montreal - 7PM
Boston @ Ottawa - 7PM
Toronto @ Pittsburgh - 7PM
New Jersey @ Washington - 7PM
Buffalo @ Atlanta - 7PM
NY Islanders @ Florida - 7PM
Minnesota @ Tampa Bay - 7:30PM
Columbus @ Nashville - 8PM
Chicago @ St. Louis - 8:30PM (Joel Quenneville's Blackhawks coaching debut)
Calgary @ Edmonton - 10PM
Philadelphia @ San Jose - 10:30PM
**My weekly power rankings, “Plus/Minus” comes out every Wednesday evening.
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